


All That Glitters...

by ladyillusion



Series: Divergent Worlds [5]
Category: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Audio Format: MP3, Gen, One Shot, Podfic Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-06-22 06:14:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19661509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyillusion/pseuds/ladyillusion
Summary: She stared at the piles of hay and the waiting spinning wheel, her stomach once again cramping as she was reminded of her task.“I really don’t care to see a lady in distress,” the man said, his voice drawing her attention back to him. “So I will turn this straw into gold for you.”





	All That Glitters...

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is available in audio form for those who would prefer to listen rather than read. Please note that this is a text to speech recording, which means that there may be some issues with it.
> 
> [Stream or download MP3 via Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AKEcYZzveI-iCUbREKp9EYyzmdzooaS3/view?usp=sharing)

Tears pricked at Keiko’s eyes as the door slammed shut behind her. She slid to her knees on the wooden floor of the room as the footsteps of her stepmother faded away.

This was impossible. Her stepmother surely knew that.

The spinning wheel sat in the centre of the room, surrounded by piles of hay. Keiko’s stomach clenched unpleasantly at the sight.

How was she supposed to spin straw into gold? It just couldn’t be done. Not by a normal human girl. Yet that was what her stepmother expected of her. If that straw hadn’t been turned to gold by morning, Keiko’s stepmother would take her anger out on Keiko herself.

Keiko reached out one hand, plucking a piece of straw from the nearest pile. She pressed it between her fingers. There was nothing she could do. The door was locked and barred behind her. The only window in the room was so high up that she couldn’t reach it.

She decided that tomorrow, as soon as she could escape her stepmother, she would flee. Living on the streets would be better than having to deal with her stepmother’s deteriorating mental health.

Perhaps she could find a job as a cleaner or maid. Even menial work would be preferable to this.

Keiko leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. The least she could do was get some sleep.

Several minutes later, she felt something tickle her nose. Thinking that it was just an insect, Keiko batted at it. But it returned a moment later to bother her. Irritated, Keiko opened her eyes.

To meet a pair of amused emerald eyes.

Keiko let out a startled yelp of shock as she raised her hands to ward off the smiling stranger kneeling before her. Held in one of his slender hands was a piece of straw.

“Excuse me,” he said, his voice like velvet. “But you looked as though you were in another world.”

Keiko breathed deeply as she tried to calm her rapidly-beating heart. This strange, elfin man had frightened her badly.

“Who are you?” she asked. “How did you get in here?”

The man’s smile grew wider. “I am capable of many impossible feats,” he said. “Which is fortunate for you.”

He offered her a hand and Keiko took it hesitantly. He rose gracefully to his feet, helping her up as he did.

She stared at the piles of hay and the waiting spinning wheel, her stomach once again cramping as she was reminded of her task.

“I really don’t care to see a lady in distress,” the man said, his voice drawing her attention back to him. “So I will turn this straw into gold for you.”

Keiko’s heart lifted at those words. It didn’t occur to her to ask how this man could accomplish such a feat. As long as he could actually do it, she didn’t care how it was done.

Or what manner of strange creature he was.

He did look a little odd, though Keiko couldn’t put her finger on what was inhuman about him. He was just a little taller than herself, with long red hair falling in a sleek waterfall down his back. His eyes were bright green and filled with friendly good humour. His face was beautiful and his body slender like a dancer’s.

His clothes were unremarkable. The plain kind of clothing that she saw on any of the men who lived in this area of town. Though the garish yellow colour of his shirt was a little unusual. It clashed rather horribly with his hair. Yet the confidence emanating from him somehow made the combination work.

There were no extra ears, horns, scales, fins or fur that Keiko could see, that would mark him as anything other than human. Yet there was an otherworldly air about him, carried like a cloak.

“If you could do that for me, I would be eternally grateful,” she exclaimed.

One fine-boned hand raised. “Hold on,” the man said. “As lovely a boon as your eternal gratitude would be, I require something a little more tangible in return for this deed. A price that will remain unspecified until I choose to redeem it.”

Keiko’s joy faded in the wake of his statement. A price that could be anything from a simple strand of hair to her life. A price that could be asked of her at any time in the future.

An unknown entity asking an unknown price.

This was a dangerous deal to make.

“Lady, please don’t look so forlorn. It is truly such a small matter.”

Emerald eyes glittered in the dim light of the fading sunlight. There was something good-natured and kind in those eyes. Something trustworthy.

Surely it would be all right. Tomorrow she would take the earliest opportunity to flee her stepmother. The woman would be so enamoured with the gold that she would spare no thought for her runaway daughter.

“All right,” she said. “I agree to your terms. Please spin the straw into gold for me, sir.”

The man bowed elegantly, some of his long scarlet hair falling across his shoulder.

“Nothing would please me more, lady,” he said. “Now, one more thing…”

He raised one finger and gently touched her forehead. Keiko’s eyelids fluttered closed and she crumpled. Her body never hit the floor, however. The man caught her deftly and laid her gently down against the wall.

He turned back to the spinning wheel, his eyes narrowed to focused slits. Time to get to work.

He wasn’t actually going to spin the straw into gold, of course. That was a truly impossible task.

But the straw didn’t need to be spun into gold. It only had to _look_ like it had been spun into gold.

And that was something that was well within his powers. He was a master of deception.

The illusion would fade within a week, of course, but by then, the human girl would be trapped. She had agreed to his deal and would still have to pay the price.

He’d never said that the straw would _stay_ as gold, had he?


End file.
